What To Eat To Gain Muscle

By Ollie Lawson

You have been busting your backside in the gym.

You are desperate to transform your physique, to shed that tag of being a soft muscled, skinny pencil neck.

But, six months down the line,  though you are stronger and feel better, your muscle gains are minimal.

You cannot seem to see muscle one!

Where are those sculpted pecs and cannonball delts?

The answer to your disappointment and lack of muscle growth lies in your nutrition, or to be more exact, lack of  muscle nutrition.

So what exactly do you have to eat to gain muscle ?

1. Complex Unrefined Carbohydrates

This includes foods like oats, whole grain brown rice, whole grain pasta, whole grain bread  and sweet potatoes.

These low glycemic carbohydrates should form the basis of your diet.  They provide you with slow released, sustained energy  for your daily activities and broken down into glycogen that is stored in your liver. This glycogen provides the fuel for your muscles when you work out in the gym.

2. Protein

Everyone knows that you have to eat protein to build or to gain muscle, but many myths abound as to the type of protein, and the amount.

Proteins are made out of nitrogen-containing molecules called amino acids.

Some 25 types of amino acids are pieced together in varying combinations  to make different kinds of protein, which form the material for your muscles, cells and organs.

There are eight basic amino acids from which most of the other seventeen can be made.

These are are termed essential amino acids.

In order to build muscle, these eight essential amino acids must be present in the diet.

They are found in  animal sources of protein…meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk and cheese.

Some grains and legumes (beans) such as lentils, quinoa and soya also contain these amino acids, but whilst mot ignoring these,  I have found over the years , the animal sources are far more effective for muscle growth.

A word of caution though:

• Limit your consumption of milk and other diary products.  Modern production methods mean they are full of hormones and antibiotics  which can have a harmful effect on health

• For the same reason as above, if you are able to, switch to organic and grass fed livestock and hens for your eggs, chicken and meat.

As to how much protein you should eat, some nutritionists and bodybuilders affirm that one should consume 1gram of protein for every lb of body weight.

I have always thought this to be excessive.  It would mean a 200lb man eating a whopping 200 grams of protein per day!

My view is that a more sensible ratio would be 1 gram to every 1 kg or 2 lbs of body weight.

However, I don’t believe that one should get caught up with figures.  You will get more than enough protein to optimize muscle gains if you ensure that you have a protein source with each meal you eat.

3. Fats.

You will get all the saturates you need from your animal sources of protein.

Do not buy into the myth that all saturated fat is bad for you.  Saturates play an important role in health, like giving our cells the necessary stiffness and integrity, ensure that calcium is absorbed into the bones, enhance the immune system, provide reserve energy for the heart in times of stress and much more.

Your other fats should come from Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)  from oily fish like mackerel, salmon, sardines , herrings, swordfish,Trout, Fresh tuna…not canned!

There are definitely some fats you must avoid. These include the mass marketed vegetable oils and trans fats. You can check out my previous post on fats for full details.

Fruits and Vegetables

These are important in that they provide valuable micro nutrients…vitamins and minerals that that help you absorb and utilize your food.  Naturally, the more efficiently your body can utilize what you eat, the faster you will be able to gain muscle.

Fruits and vegetables will also provide your diet with valuable fiber, which is a great help to the digestive system and waste elimination.

Supplements

There are no magic supplements that will help you sprout muscles like Popeye, or a prime Governor Schwarzenegger but some can be very useful.                            

A good whey protein  or whey protein and complex carbohydrate based weight gainer are two that I would recommend.

They make it that much easier for you to get the amount of nutrients you need to build muscle.

Two other supplements I have always found useful are Vitamin C  and Antioxidants.

Vit C helps to boost and strengthen the immune system, which does take a bit of a battering from intense heavy weight training done 3-4 times per week.

A by product of intense exercise like weight training is the release of cell damaging  free radicals.  A good Antioxidant supplement will help sweep these up.

How Often Should You Eat?

The accepted wisdom is that in order to maximize muscle gains, one should eat every three hours.

That is great for pro bodybuilders or athletes, but a little more complicated for Joe Public who have to hold down a regular job or go college, etc.

My suggestion is that you look to eat a small to medium sized meal every 4 hours or so ( snacks included )

An Example Of A Days Eating Program

7.00 -8.00 am   Oats,  3 poached eggs,  wholemeal bread

11.00 -12.00    Wholemeal pasta, minced beef, raw organic carrots,  2 bananas or fruit of choice (You may have to cook this at home the previous evening, take it to work with you and heat in microwave  )

15.00-16.00    A Whey protein or weight gain drink mixed with rice milk and blended with a handful of  strawberries or blueberries  plus a spoon of  pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds.  The seeds are an excellent source of Essential fatty acids or EFAs ( Omega 3 & 6 ).  Rice milk is much healthier than cows milk and easier to tolerate.  Soya milk contains phytoestrogens which some studies have found converts into the female hormone, oestrogen in the body.

19.00-20.00  Sweet potatoes or wholegrain brown rice, grilled whole mackerel  grilled lean steak or grilled chicken breasts,  steamed broccoli

22.00-23.00  A whey protein drink blended with choice of fruit and pumpkin seeds.

Now you have a better idea of what to eat to gain muscle, your next step should be to cut through all the myths and disinformation put out there by fitness and bodybuilding magazines .

To gain muscle quickly and efficiently you have to know how often should you go to the gym,  what exercises are the best muscle builders and how long your routine should be.

If you get any of the above wrong, you will effectively short circuit your progress.

Check out http://www.fitness-nutrition-muscle.com for comprehensive details on how to successfully  build muscle.  You may even qualify for a free muscle building coaching video!

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